Alex Tabarrok says a record number of drugs are in short supply right now. But is this really true? Here are the latest figures from the University of Utah:
Huh. Usually when people say this they haven't bothered to check the actual figures. But things have changed since the last time I looked in mid-2022. We really do have a record number of pharmaceuticals in short supply right now.
Nice cartel you've got there.
According to an article published ast Friday and appearing in ars technica, US drug shortages reach record high with 323 meds now in short supply. I reccomend you read the comments as well; as is the case with almost every Ars article, they're more enlightening than the actual story. You need to read a couple of pages in to get a since of particular drugs the commenters opine are in short supply.
My urologist told me BCG was unavailable recently and patients had to purchase an alternative on their own because insurance companies would not pay for it.
" What is the cause of the shortages and backorders for TICE BCG? Since 2012, when Merck unexpectedly became the sole manufacturer."
The pandemic gave corporations great insight into exactly how supply can be manipulated at various choke points in sourcing, production or distribution to achieve desired demand, prices and profits. And now I expect we’ll see lots more artificial shortages whenever a corporation “needs” profits to be higher, especially in industries where the suppliers operate as monopolies or oligopolies.